Kendra talks

  Leaving Marat behind, the Dragon King moved along the wall to where Kendra stood. If a dragon could smile, Celebrant was doing it. He showed flagrantly carnivorous teeth, and his eyes glowed brightly.

  “There you are!” Celebrant said. “Taking a nap, were you?”

  He was close now, just beyond the wall from where she stood. If she leaned forward, she could touch his snout. Kendra concentrated on the nostrils. Not the eyes.

  She wanted to answer. She had words to say. But her body was betraying her.

  “You’re not petrified, are you?” Celebrant asked smugly. “That would hardly befit your office. Speak up, Kendra. You’re making the wrong impression.”

  How did they do it? How did Patton make his body work when it was involuntarily frozen? Was it just a matter of willpower? Again she had words to say. Again they would not come.

  Celebrant chuckled theatrically. “Is this the caretaker of Blackwell Keep? This stupefied mute? This is an insult to the office of caretaker. She appears unfit for service.”

  “The girl is weary!” Marat called, rushing along the wall to where Kendra stood. “She has hardly slept. Try again in the morning.”

  Kendra knew she was not unfit. She and Seth had just retrieved the scepter! She had killed the Demon King! She could remember the feel of Vasilis in her hand, the power humming through her.

  In that dark moment, with the demons bearing down on them, her family had needed her. All of fairydom had needed her.

  And now her family needed her again.

  Kendra felt something shift inside of her.

  “No,” she said. “We’ll talk now.”

Chapter 27-Alone